The Imposter
by J S Arnold
Summary: Damon Knows that Stephen is a sucker for Katherine, that she will minipulate him into her schemes. He wants to protect his brother's interests, but how can he be sure?
1. Chapter 1

**AR One-Shot**

**I do not own the Vampire diaries**

**The Imposter**

**Damon POV**

Why is it that I find myself having to watch them? I want to stop this spying, I could amuse myself for hours just being _me,_ but _she_ keeps me still. I know who he touches, and it isn't Elena. He doesn't realise the difference in her smell, or the different ways she holds her self, how she stands, how she moves. He hasn't noticed because he is weak in her power.

If I could just go down there and ruin his evening I would, but her likeness to Elena stops me from approaching. Would I be able to kill her, when it came to the final blow, or would that god-forsaken image of Elena, scared and cowering before me, make it impossible to drive a stake through her heart?

Why, why, why is this so difficult? - does it really matter which girl I kill?

It does, I know this. I have spent the last 145 years mourning Katherine, the witch in the foyer below me, the imposter. I know that if I murdered Elena the pain would never go away – I would be mourning for the rest of my immortal existence. I would rather see her _alive_ and with my brother than not see her at all.

The handgun filled with silver bullets feels heavy in my hand as I aim it at the damn woman's back. I knew it had it's risk, but a vampire can survive a bullet wound with ease.

**Elena POV**

When I look into his eyes, those twin pools of green, I see my whole life before me, and I see myself as a grey haired crone in no less than 45 years. I see him as the stunning man before me forever. I will get old and my skin will sag, but he will stay handsome forever.

Would he still love me, even then?

What is there to experience with him, what kind of future do we have? We would not be able to have children, no friends or family nearby after just a couple of years; I will age, have wrinkles, and eventually be mistaken for his mother, but he will remain an Adonis, perfect and young.

**Stephen POV**

I can smell him, and I know exactly where he's hiding. He's wearing a different scent today, a metallic perfume that stings my nostrils. Elena looks up at me with tears in her eyes, these have a different smell, a salty and bitter reminder of his own. I can see anguish in her eyes, those fathomless eyes that hold so many secrets.

"What is the matter, Elena?" I ask, moments after the tears begun to trickle down her face. If only I knew what she was thinking, and then at least I would know how to comfort her. She is all I think about, all that I feel aware of.

She does not answer, and instead collapses to the floor in a tangle of bootleg trousers and long sleeved top. Her eyes are open wide, but not as if she is seeing anything. No matter how much I repeat her name, she does not stir from her position on the floor. My hand splashes in ruby waters surrounding her. The tide of crimson brushes my designer jeans, and seeping into the fabric.

I turn her face towards me, and still she does not blink. She sees nothing and her irises grow cloudier by the second.

"Elena!" I shout.

**Damon's POV**

He'll thank me later. He'll realise he's once again fallen for her tricks. He'll thank me. Even as I think this, I search for any signs to confirm what I have just done.

I remember the exact tone of her skin, a pallor that made her hair fall like shadows on her face. I remember that flawless face, the perfect body. I remember how her lips were far fuller than any of the other women of my human life. I also remember the necklace, the blue pendent on a platinum thread, that I had given to Elena the previous day. She hadn't taken it off when she returned from school this afternoon.

"Elena!" I shout from my hiding place in the tall trees.

_What have I done?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Damon POV**

It was Katherine, I could have sworn it. Her face, her eyes, that sweet smell was all her. I have become angry enough at her to lose my sanity, and that is what I have done... because of her.

But vampires don't _bleed_ this much. They don't _keep bleeding _either. They heal quickly, _she_ always had. The gun feels heavy in my hand but my fingers are ridged around the hilt, so it remains steady in front of me. How could I have been so _stupid_!

Stephen does not look up from her body, his eyes glued to the ruby pool forming below her rib cage, the crimson seeping from her. I at least have fed – I'm not hungry, but I can smell his saliva from here. He _wants_ to suck her dry, and it is a struggle for him to hold her carefully. I could pretend that I have just arrived back from... _wherever_... it will not matter. I could ask what has happened. I could pretend that he has done this to her. I could get angry... I could kill him...

Though the thought is tempting, _extremely_, I don't think it would serve any purpose. It would not win me her affection, and you never know when _dear brother_ will be useful in the future.

**Stephen POV**

_Elena... oh Elena..._ _Elena speak to me! _These are the words I think as I shake her gently. The sound of her body moving in the pool of blood is sickening, but I find myself leaning in closer to hear her heart beating softly.

She is still alive, but for how much longer? How much longer can I be with her before the animal in me takes her? The prickle of awareness around my eyes only confirms my fear that I am too weak to remain crouching over her,

If I let these lips part even only slightly, I will not be able to resist becoming a monster. I can feel my teeth elongate behind my lips, feel them drip with venom and desire. _One little bite_, the monster whispers reasonably, _just one little bite._

The _need_ is strong within me. It's tearing me apart from the inside. I can't take any more blood, she won't survive, I can't...

**Damon POV**

I don't think. I let my instincts show me what to do. I switched off my ego so I could save her from a fate worse than death.

"Stephen!" I roar, pouncing on him like a wild cat, a tiger. He spun around and I feel almost proud. He looked ghastly, but he also had that hungry glint in his eyes. I remember feeling that way, the feverish blood lust of the unfed.

Katherine was lying on the ground and was convulsing with pain. He had bitten her after all.

"Well done brother," I heard the noise but my lips felt numb. He seemed find it difficult to form sentences, "but I thought it was Elena."

I pounced on her shivering form, teeth out and ready to kill.


	3. Chapter 3

**Elena POV**

I hear the growl, as deep as it is fierce, and I felt my back grow stiff. I thought that I recognised that sound from before but could not decide on my actions swiftly enough. My body buckle under his weight as he pounces on me, dragging me down onto the hard wood floor. It only took a fraction of a moment for the mouth of the beast to be at my ear.

He snarled at me, and the venom from his mouth felt like syrup as he breathed next to my ear. He hissed, "Katherine, you may have fooled my brother, but I am not so _stupid." _I flinched at his words as he ground them out between his teeth. I did not want to meet his pitch black eyes, the viens below them so dark they could have been a permanent feature of his once handsome face.

He lowered his head and our wide eyes met squarely. In The wild-life documentories they always say to meet a preditors gaze, to never look away less they think it safe to attack you. But his animal-mind is one that is evolved; It did not take much common sense to understand that submission was not what would save me now.

I glanced at Stephen, and saw him staring at me in a way I had never seen before. He felt angry that his brother had interupted his evening with me, he seemed unsuprised, he was looking at me in distrust.

**Stephen POV**

Could it really be Katherine? Would she have really stooped to _impersonating_ my girlfriend? Could she be so good at it?

Of course she would be good at it. Of course she would know how to trick me. I doubt it would have been hard for her to find out all she needed to know to pass as Elena.

How long has this been going on? I know it may have been weeks. _Weeks_, and I didn't even notice the difference. _I _should have. Why didn't I?

Katherine has had _centuries_ of deception to aid her in tericking me, but I hadn't dreamed she could be this good at pretending. I know Elena well, and even I could not tell the difference.

**Damon POV**

_Time to die_, is all I think as I lunge at her back, _this is long overdue_.

As a vampire I am _very _rarely suprised, but once again she has managed to fool me. I positioned myself as I flew at her so even if she tried to tackle me I would have the upper hand, but even as her arm broke beneath my shoe all she did was scream. She didn't attack me, and instead cradled her right arm with her left.

_What a good show_, I think icily, _pretend that it your bones aren't already healed in the wrist of yours. The moment I let my guard down you will pounse on me. I am not that stupid. I am not my brother. I loved you more than him, but you used me like a tool to be at your beck and call. I will not make that mistake again._

_I will never love again_.


End file.
